by Diane Hoh
There was no one at the wheel!
Chapter 14
EVERYTHING BECAME A BLUR after that.
Alex had never learned to drive.
Crying and shaking, she managed to pull herself to her feet and make her way up the aisle. When she slid into the driver’s seat, she did it in a state of shock and had no memory of it afterward. Later, the policemen told her that she did a great job of steering the bus, keeping it from careening off the road, until, no longer being fed gas, it finally slowed and, gradually, bumped to a stop against an embankment.
But she remembered none of that. The last thing she remembered was that evil, blood-chilling hahahahahah as the raincoat went out the door of the bus. The sound still rang in her ears.
They told her they had a hard time getting her fingers to uncurl from around the steering wheel. She didn’t remember ever touching the steering wheel.
When she was sitting safely in the police car, she asked tremulously, “Did you catch him? He went into the woods, I think.”
“No, miss,” the driver said. “I let my partner here out of the car when we saw the guy jump, and he followed on foot for some distance, but the guy must have been moving pretty fast. No sign of him. Disappeared into thin air, seems like.”
“I can’t believe he wasn’t killed when he jumped,” Alex said. “The bus was going so fast. How could anyone survive that?”
“Don’t know, Miss. But he did. And in good health, I’d guess, or he wouldn’t have eluded Ryan here. Could be hiding somewhere around here. We’ll take you home and then organize a search. We’ll find him, don’t you worry.”
Right. What on earth did she have to worry about? She was safe in a police car, wasn’t she? If only she could stay there forever. “How did you know we were out here, in the middle of nowhere?” she asked.
“Some concerned citizen with a car phone called in and said there was a maniac on the highway doing figure eights with a university shuttle bus. He saw you take that detour onto Old Sawmill Road. You sure you’re okay?”
To Alex’s complete astonishment, she really was okay. No blood, nothing broken, and most important of all, alive. She was alive.
The other surprising thing was that it took the policemen only a few minutes to drive her back to her dorm.
“We were this close to school?” she asked incredulously. “Right around the corner from it?”
The policeman opening the door for her nodded. “Yep. Your driver made a couple of U-turns. You were actually just behind one of the off-campus dorms—Nightingale Hall.”
Alex shuddered. It figured that was where her own nightmare had taken place.
They sat in the empty lobby at Lester, where the policemen asked her endless questions. Alex had never felt so stupid. She had been warned against going anywhere alone. Not only had she left the party alone, she’d climbed aboard a bus empty of other passengers. But it had never occurred to her to be wary of a bus driver.
The officers stood up. “If we don’t find the guy when we search the woods, we’ll talk to the captain about putting a guard on you,” one of them said.
But when they’d walked her to her room and left, Alex cringed at the idea of some police officer following her around all over campus all day long. People would stare at her. She would hate that.
They’d probably catch the guy. He must have hurt something when he dove off that speeding bus. He was probably holed up in the woods somewhere, nursing his wounds, and they’d catch him before he could get away.
Then she’d be safe again.
She locked the door before crawling underneath the covers to wait, wide awake, for Jenny to come home. Periodically, she would begin shaking violently and would have to bite down on her lower lip, hard, to calm down.
Jenny came home in a bad mood.
“They all went off somewhere without me!” she cried, tossing her purse on the bed. “Marty, Bennett, Gabe…I couldn’t believe it! I had to walk back with Jill and Amber.”
Alex, who would cheerfully have settled for a nice, safe walk home instead of an insane bus ride, sat up. “Where did they go? The guys, I mean?”
Jenny flopped down on her bed and leaned against the wall. “Gabe said his legs were bothering him and he wanted to call Julie, so he left. And then Marty found out you were gone, so he left, too.”
Alex didn’t see why. It wasn’t as if he’d been clinging to her like a vine at the party.
“And then Bennett left. Said he needed his rest for the ‘big game’ tomorrow. I got mad. I mean, we’d been having so much fun, I didn’t want him to leave. A little while later, I was sorry I’d lost my temper, and called him to apologize. He wasn’t there.”
“Maybe he was asleep. Like he said, big game tomorrow.”
Jenny shook her head. “I’ll bet anything he went down to Vinnie’s. He’s been spending so much time there lately. He’s obsessed with that stupid fortune-teller.”
Alex felt a chill. “The Wizard?”
“Yeah. Everyone else is pretty bored with it by now, but not Bennett. And,” Jenny pulled her hair loose from its ponytail and let it fall around her shoulders, “I saw Marty and Gabe hanging around it a couple of times this week, too.” She shrugged. “I don’t get what they see in it myself. I thought it would be fun, too, at first. But the cards are so stupid. They don’t mean a thing.”
True…unless you witness an attempted murder and The Wizard gives you a card that says SILENCE IS GOLDEN, Alex thought. That could certainly mean something.
But then, Alex reminded herself, Marty had received the same card. Jenny was right. The cards didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t as if she’d received a card that said BEWARE OF YELLOW BUSES. That would have meant something.
“How was Julie?” Jenny asked suddenly.
And Alex remembered that she had been on her way to the hospital when she’d been…hijacked. Could she tell Jenny what had happened? She wanted to tell someone. Maybe saying it out loud would make it seem, somehow, not so terrible.
But telling Jenny might be putting her in danger, too. If the police didn’t catch the guy tonight or tomorrow…horrible thought…he would still be on the loose. And he might guess that she had told her roommate. No, Jenny mustn’t know. For her own sake.
“I never got there. I decided I was too tired, so I just came home.” The lie came more easily than she’d thought it would. Maybe because it was for a good reason.
As she rolled over and tried to go to sleep, a sound echoed in her head…a deep, evil hahahahahaha.
Chapter 15
ALEX AWOKE IN THE morning exhausted.
She had to fight the urge to stay in bed, under the covers all day. But she refused to hide in her room for the rest of her life. Besides, it was beautiful outside, clear and crisp, with a bright blue, cloudless sky. Another perfect football day. At the stadium, surrounded by classmates and friends, Alex tried to shed the terror of her crazy bus ride. If only the phone had rung before she and Jenny left their room, if only the police had called with good news….
Was he still out there somewhere?
Not only did Marty receive a few minutes of playing time in the game, but to Alex’s surprise, so did Gabe and Bennett. Bennett was brilliant, throwing a tricky pass that earned a last-minute touchdown.
“I can’t believe Coach let Gabe play,” Alex told Jenny as they waited outside the stadium for the boys. They were all going to Vinnie’s for pizza.
“Why not? He let Bennett play, and Bennett’s been on crutches, too. Gabe got his stitches out Wednesday, Julie told me. And he probably wore lots of padding today. Anyway, it was only for a few minutes, Alex. I heard Coach telling Prof Pagnozi that we’re going to have a super team next year. Championship caliber, he said.” Her expression grew dreamy. “And I know he meant because of Bennett. Wasn’t he great today?” She sighed. “I’ve never gone out with a football star before. Julie dated all the star athletes in high school. But not me. I always wanted to.”
Ga
be and Bennett both insisted they were fine, when Alex asked. And she noticed that neither one of them was limping. Playing for those few minutes didn’t seem to have done any further damage.
At Vinnie’s, Alex was relieved to find that no one had heard any rumors about a wild bus ride on a dirt road behind the school. If they had, they would have been gossiping about it. They might have asked questions. And she wouldn’t have had any answers.
But she was disappointed, when she called the police station from Vinnie’s pay phone, to learn that the hijacker hadn’t been caught, yet.
She couldn’t believe it. How far could he have gone? He must have hurt himself when he dove off that bus. How could he not have?
Crestfallen, she replaced the receiver on the wall phone. When she turned around, she was staring straight into the eyes of The Wizard.
“You’re supposed to know so much,” she demanded, “why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
And then, before she could move away, the arm clanked and whirred and lifted, and when she looked, there was a card in the little cup on the outside of the booth.
“But I didn’t put a quarter in,” she protested even as curiosity moved her to reach out and take the card. “Business is so bad, you’re giving them away free now?”
Marty suddenly appeared around the corner. His face was badly bruised from an encounter with the opposing team’s tackle, and he was walking very stiffly. “You here again?” he teased, apparently forgetting that he’d been annoyed with her for leaving the party the night before. “Can’t stay away from this guy, can you? Should I be jealous?”
“I thought it was you who couldn’t stay away,” she said coolly. “You and Bennett and Gabe. Jenny said you guys hang around this thing a lot. I wanted to see if I was missing something about Old Stoneface here, so I decided to give him a shot.” She didn’t tell Marty that she hadn’t deposited a coin.
“So, what’s the card say?” he asked.
Alex looked down at the card. And her mouth fell open. “I…I…” She had been prepared to shrug and say the card didn’t mean anything. That was what she had planned to do. Expected to do.
But she couldn’t.
Because what the card said was, THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND.
“Hey, I know that song!” Marty said when he’d read the card. “We used to sing it on the way to summer camp.” He began singing. “The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round…”
“Shut up!” Alex snapped.
“What? What’s wrong? You look sick. It’s just a kids’ song, right?”
Alex looked up, directly into the eyes of The Wizard. Wasn’t he…smiling? Weren’t his red-painted lips curved up, just a little?
She was losing her mind. Who could blame her, after the week she’d had?
“It is kind of weird, though,” Marty said. “I mean, a kids’ song? That’s not anything like all the other cards we got.”
She didn’t want to talk about it. She couldn’t. “C’mon, I’m starving,” she urged, tugging at Marty’s hand. She had to get away from those cruel blue eyes.
She could swear, as she turned away, that The Wizard’s lips had curved upward another inch.
“Alex?” Marty turned her toward him and looked down into her face. “What’s going on? You’ve been acting really off the wall lately.”
“Look who’s talking,” she retorted. “You haven’t exactly been Mr. Congeniality.”
“You’re right. It’s that speech. For soc. Just can’t get it right. I know what I want to say, but I can’t put the words together right. You helped a lot with the early draft, but now I’m stuck on the last part, and it’s due Monday. I’ll be working on it all weekend.”
Any other time, she might have been sympathetic. But she couldn’t worry about Marty’s speech now. Besides, he’d ace it. He liked talking, especially in front of a crowd. He’d be fine.
“Good luck,” was all she said as she led him to the booth commandeered by Gabe and Bennett.
When Kiki arrived a few minutes later, Alex almost didn’t recognize her. She was wearing a bright orange blouse, tucked into her jeans, and the jeans hung on her hips. Her cheekbones jutted out sharply. But instead of looking beautiful, as Alex had anticipated, Kiki looked tired and haggard. There were dark circles around her eyes and a sullen look about her.
They found out why immediately. “I’ve been suspended from the soccer team,” she told them angrily. “Coach says I’m way under my weight.” Her upper lip curled disdainfully. “She says she’s afraid I’ll get hurt. Can you believe it? I’ve been playing soccer since I was ten and I’ve never had so much as a bruised knee cap. The woman is crazy!”
She slid into the booth. Alex couldn’t help noticing how little room she needed now.
“Well,” Bennett said calmly, “you are thinner. Maybe your coach is right. How come you lost so much? Thought you were just going to shed a few pounds.”
A look of bewilderment came over Kiki’s face. “Well, I meant to,” she said. “I guess it just felt so good to take off the excess, I got carried away. But I’m eating now.”
She ate more pizza than anyone else at the table.
When Kiki had first approached the table, Alex’s instinctive reaction had been, She’s sick. Kiki’s sick, and she doesn’t even know it. But now, watching her eat, she wondered if that could possibly be true. What kind of illness left a person with that kind of appetite? When she was sick, the last thing she felt like doing was eating.
“Too bad about soccer,” Marty told Kiki sympathetically. “I know what it feels like not to play a sport you love. It’s the worst. You’d do almost anything to get back in the game.”
Bennett and Gabe nodded vigorously.
Kiki nodded, too. But she didn’t stop eating. Alex tried to eat something, too. She hadn’t been eating enough lately. She didn’t want to end up looking like Kiki.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the fortune telling card: THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND…The song began skittering around inside her head and refused to leave.
No one but the police knew about that terrifying bus ride. No one…
Well…there was one other person who knew.
She hadn’t paid for that card. She hadn’t deposited a coin. Someone could have put that card in the little cup earlier, before she got there. But…how would he have known that she was going to make a phone call? How could he have known that she’d be back there, by The Wizard?
Unless…her heart began to pound loudly in her chest…unless he was there! Watching her….
Alex shrank back against the seat. I really am crazy, she thought, breaking out in an icy sweat. Here I am, going to football games and eating at Vinnie’s, as if everything is normal, when I know…I know someone wants me dead. What’s wrong with me? I should be hiding in my room with the door locked, or hiring a bodyguard, or asking the police for protection.
“Alex,” Jenny was saying, “what’s the matter?”
“I have to go,” Alex said abruptly. “Marty, will you please take me home?”
“What’s wrong?” Kiki asked, wiping her mouth. “Are you sick? You look terrible.”
Look who’s talking, Alex thought but didn’t say. “Headache. Marty?” She could tell by the expression on his face that he wasn’t keen on leaving.
“If you don’t want to,” she told Marty, “I can take the shuttle.” But she knew she couldn’t. Could she ever take it again? Maybe, a thousand years from now. But not tonight.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll take you.” Marty slid out of the booth.
But when they got outside, Alex changed her mind about going back to campus. It was Saturday. No one would be in the dorm. It wasn’t a good idea to go back to an empty room in an empty dorm.
Alex felt the sting of tears pressing against her eyelids. This wasn’t fair at all. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Why did she have to be afraid?
Immediately ash
amed, remembering how much worse things were for Julie and Kyle, she knew suddenly where she wanted to go.
“Will you take me to the hospital?” she asked when they were in the car.
“I thought you wanted to go home. What about your headache?”
“Marty, could you practice being a human being tonight? Just for this one night? I haven’t seen Julie enough lately, and I’d also like to find out how your best friend is, if you don’t mind.”
“Sorry,” he muttered, and started the car.
She hadn’t meant to be so snotty. After all, Marty had no idea what was going on. Maybe she should tell him about seeing Kyle thrown off that deck. Marty had a right to know that his best friend hadn’t tried to commit suicide.
But then, he already knew that. She’d heard him say it a dozen times. “Not Leavitt, not in a million years, he wouldn’t jump off a tower.” He was already positive about that. No need to tell him.
And if she told him about the murderous bus ride, he’d freak. Would he even believe her? He’d already said she’d been acting weird.
Alex knew that she probably would have told him if they’d been getting along better. But lately he seemed so uptight, so annoyed. Besides, if he’d paid more attention to her at the frat party, she probably never would have left, never would have hopped the shuttle….
She didn’t say another word until they got to the hospital. He didn’t, either.
But when they left the car and headed for the hospital entrance, he took her hand and said, “Alex, you’re right. Sorry I’ve been such a jerk lately. It’ll pass, I promise. As soon as I get that speech over with.”
“Right. Forget it. Sorry I bit your head off.”
While Marty went to check out Kyle’s condition, Alex visited Julie.
Julie was hurt that Jenny hadn’t been around much. “I know my folks are here now, and that’s nice,” she said. “But Jenny tells me stuff about school, and my parents can’t do that. And they’re so worried about what my face is going to look like, it gets real tense in here sometimes.”
